Australia's busiest airport: Where staff battle to survive

GROUND staff have blown the whistle on what really goes on behind the scenes at Australia's busiest airport - and it isn't pretty.

Staff say they are forced to camp beside baggage carousels, sleep inside luggage containers among rat droppings and rubbish and hang around inside Sydney Airport for up to 15 hours a day in order to work split shifts for paltry pay, the ABC reports.

Workers from ground handling contractor Aerocare have also told of a frightening near-miss by sleep-deprived staff which saw a fully loaded Tiger Air passenger jet in Brisbane preparing for takeoff with a cargo door left wide open by mistake.

Makeshift beds underneath the passenger terminals.7.30

Aerocare is contracted to major airlines to provide ground support at Sydney airport, loading bags, passengers and performing safety checks.

Another anonymous whistleblower told the program: "We're just getting ground down. its all about the money. it's stopped being about people ... it's just a means to an end."

Aerocare has denied the allegations of poor treatment and fatigue-related safety incidents.

The company, which reportedly posted a $13 million profit last year, said in a statement it has "invested millions of dollars to improve the quality of its rostering so as to maximise the duration of shifts, with the goal of securing more contracts which would enable Aerocare to offer employees longer shifts and further viable fulltime positions."